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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only unexpected element of Hearts' triumph over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was just how surprised observers seemed when news of the result and its impact for the summit of the standings emerged. While this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side top of the league and a significant margin ahead of Celtic, was earth-shattering in scale, nobody who has been tracking the fortunes of either team this season will have been in the least astonished by the final score.

For each of the last 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish football between them, turning fitba to something of a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the present season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While much of the focus in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being suffered by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been allowed to worsen unnoticed. The reigning champions have already dropped a considerable number from their opening nine fixtures this season under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has acquired the distant look of a individual who constantly consulting his Google calendar to find out how many time are left until his contract expires, and woke up this morning to learn the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure here," he informed reporters following the defeat, after they had doubted his appetite for any kind of a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to attempt to flip the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the horrific start to the campaign being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could typically be anticipated to get away with their own failure to start strongly, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has entered the mix. In spite of being obliged to operate with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. In addition to putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Brighton owner has provided Hearts exclusive use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting player identification system.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a club colours, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be observed celebrating each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had massively misjudged his side's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots as a result.

COACH'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his side's latest victory, their eighth in nine league matches. "It might be for others on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It may confirm views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the lads have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a strong position, and certainly in fitness we seem in a good place, so we hope it persists. Of course, it's not a position that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, Derek, it isn't. But the glorious, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that a team besides the traditional powers can claim.